Gurgaon, June 25
The nationwide ban on smoking in public places has had little impact in the city, located on the outskirts of the national capital. People can be seen smoking everywhere, in government offices, at bus stands and in restaurants, but no action has evidently been taken against the violators.

The Gurgaon administration admits to have fined only two smokers in the past five months. While the ban came into force in the rest of the country in October last year, in Gurgaon, the official notification was eventually issued in early January this year. A 13-member committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the then deputy commissioner Deepti Umashankar to ensure the implementation. But the ban has remained on paper.

Civil surgeon SS Dalal was appointed the vice-chairman of the committee, which also included the DCP, district information and public relations officer, district education officer, GM roadways, district drug controller, food inspector, representatives of leading NGOs working in the field of health, academicians, psychologists and sociologists.

The ban on smoking has been extended to all government as well as non-government offices, public places like bus stand, railway station and even hotels, pubs, restaurants, cinema halls, shopping malls etc. Anyone found violating the ban is to be fined Rs 200. If the offender refuses to pay, he would have to appear before the SDM court, says the provision. The DC has directed that a nodal officer should be appointed in all departments for the collection of fine from offenders.

The civil surgeon laments that the nodal officers are not taking their job seriously. Deputy commissioner RK Kataria, however, says he would soon take steps to enforce the ban. “What has not happened till now will happen in the near future,” he asserts. A public education campaign is, however, necessary, he feels.

Smokers, meanwhile, remain unfazed. Reena, who runs her own PR agency, says she enjoys smoking and is confident that even when the ban is enforced, there will be specific zones marked for smoking. “I hope the government would make arrangements for smokers before enforcing the rules,” she says.

A college student, Sheetal, wonders if the government is so serious about citizens’ health then why not impose a ban on cigarette manufacturers.

Men, particularly youths, are amused as they clearly believe that it is not practical to impose the ban and are convinced that any drive to fine smokers would be short-lived. “Let’s see how many times they can challan us, exclaims Ashok Gupta, a call centre employee.

Sirsa, June 25
The latest UGC regulations, whereby the regulatory authority has exempted candidates with a PhD degree from clearing NET/SLET for recruitment as assistant professor or lecturer in universities and colleges, have drawn flak from the teaching community.

Most of the teachers, The Tribune talked to, described the move as an attempt to dilute the eligibility standards at the entry level and it would in turn deteriorate the standard of education in universities and colleges.

The UGC (minimum qualifications required for the appointment and career advancement of teachers in universities and institutions affiliated to it) Regulations 2009 provide that “NET/SLET shall remain the minimum eligibility condition for recruitment for the appointment of lecturers in universities and colleges, provided, however, that the candidates who have been awarded a PhD degree in compliance with commission’s latest regulations shall be exempted from the requirement of the minimum eligibility condition of NET/SLET for recruitment and appointment of assistant professor or equivalent position in universities, colleges and institutions”.

“This is not only the dilution of the eligibility conditions but also injustice with those who have cleared the NET test. The UGC has negated its own stand while formulating its new regulations. While approving the second amendment in June 2006, the UGC based its decision on the interim report of the Prof Bhalchandra Mungekar panel, but now, while issuing the third amendment, the regulatory body has completely ignored the final report of the panel that recommended retaining the NET,” said Monika Malik, a lecturer in the CMK National Post Graduate College for Women, Sirsa.

The state government has already made NET a mandatory provision for appointment as a lecturer.

Dr Umed Singh, a reader in the department of English of Chaudhary Devi Lal University, said relaxing the eligibility conditions at the entry level was bound to bring down the standard of teaching in universities and colleges.

Most teachers are of the opinion that PhD is no match for the NET examination, which is conducted at the national level and candidates from all over the country were put to the same test.

The standards of the PhD programmes, on the other hand, vary from university to university and there is no guarantee that candidates with lesser calibre would not sneak into the system through this route.

“Once in, a bad teacher will remain a burden on the education system for the next 25 to 30 years as it is very difficult to remove non-performers from the government service,” teachers opine.

Giving the benefit of PhD or M Phil to the existing teachers as a part of their career advancement is one thing, but relaxing the condition at the entry level was going to have negative implications, feel the university teachers.

Gurgaon, June 25
Going by the hectic political activity in Haryana, it seems that the state is all set to witness a keen contest in the coming Assembly elections.

It is going to be a do-die-battle for the leaderships of all Opposition parties, who are already anxious over the talk of early poll in the state soon after their dismal performance in the recent parliamentary elections.

Hence, no wonder the Opposition parties are leaving no stone unturned to ensure that they perform well in the elections to the state Assembly.

While the Haryana Janhit Congress (HJC) and the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP) have already announced a tie-up, INLD leader Om Prakash Chautala is himself touring the entire state to mobilise the party cadres and supporters.

These all-out efforts were necessitated as the INLD as well as the HJC were facing dissension from within. Apart from containing the exodus from the party, the HJC leadership hopes to polarise the non-Jat votes in its favour from the tie-up in the long run. The arrangement also suits the BSP, whose chief Mayawati had openly given a call for the installation of a non-Jat chief minister in the state.

The poll road seems to be much tougher for the INLD, which is in a spot ever since it lost the last Assembly elections by a huge margin. Not only was the party not able to win even one seat in the Assembly byelections, but also its candidates lost miserably in the recent Lok Sabha poll as well.

The level of discontent among the INLD members can be gauged from the fact that a demand for change in leadership has started arising, which was something unheard of in the party, given its character. To add insult to injury, there are talks of senior party leaders switching their loyalties.

As far as the Congress is concerned, the main threat it faces is from within. The differences among its various factions have not died despite the brilliant show put up by the party in the Lok Sabha elections. These differences can hamper the party’s performance in the Assembly poll.

Haryana Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, who emerged as the star campaigner for the Congress in the LS elections, has a daunting task ahead to retain his chair. For this, he would not only have to repeat the good results in the Assembly poll, but also manage his detractors and live up to the expectations of the party high command.

The BJP, on the other hand, is unlikely to create much ripples in the state’s poll stream, whether its leadership decides to continue its alliance with the INLD or not.

Gurgaon, June 25
Bollywood hunk John Abraham feels it is the love of people that always brings him to the millennium city. Abraham, who never misses an opportunity to visit the city, says: “The people here are nice and I love to meet them. It is due to their affection that I love coming to Gurgaon again and again”.

This time, he, along with his co-stars Katrina Kaif, Neil Nitin Mukesh and director Kabir Khan, visited the city to promote his upcoming movie “New York”, which is due to release this Friday.

While sharing his experiences, John appreciated the story of the film and mentioned that this was one of the best films he had done so far. “This is a good film based on reality and lots of research work has been done on it. This is a commercial and interesting film and needs no promotion,” he said.

John said he had done a nude and some intimate scenes in the movie, but they were the demand of the script. “After seeing the movie, you will realise how important those scenes were,” he said.

Katrina affirmed that she had never done anything like this before. “After watching the movie, people will find that the character of Maya resembles me a lot,” she said. “The most important thing I came to know was about the difficult situations people have to face in their lives. That time I realised that people have to live in such bad conditions too. I feel pity towards them,” she added.

Another “New York” star Neil, who has made his presence felt in the industry with just a few films, said he had faced many unusual experiences while shooting for the film. Sharing one of his experiences, Neil said, “The airport authorities in New York detained me for about two hours as they thought that I am not an Indian. They never expected Indians to be of such fair complexion and they let me go only after searching my name on Google”.

He was also excited about his upcoming project “Jail” where he had portrayed a nude scene. "It’s more easy to be nude than wearing clothes,” Neil said. He affirmed that though he felt awkward in the beginning regarding his parents’ reaction towards it, but when his mother appreciated his move, he felt more confident. He said, “I select a film only after asking myself that would I love to watch such kind of movie and if I feel yes, I don’t take a single minute to sign it.”

Director of the movie Kabir Khan, who made his directorial debut with “Kabul Express”, said the film highlighted prejudices against certain nationalities and religions across the world. “It is a definite and relevant subject,” he explained.

Set in New York, the story revolves around three young friends whose lives take an unexpected turn after terrorist attacks. The film is produced and distributed by Yash Raj Films.

“It is a balanced story and not a jingoistic film,” Kabir said, adding, “’Kabul Express’ had showcased the autobiographical aspects of his stay in Afghanistan post-Taliban, but “New York” is a wider and much larger journey. Though it has been drawn from my experiences, it is not at all autobiographical.

The treatment is more dramatic and more mainstream, but eccentricities are different. Instances like people's experiences with the FBI and the whole society getting paranoid and prejudiced, a lot of such observation, research and talking with people has gone behind the film,” he explained.

Asked if the film was in any way a tribute to the Indian victims of terrorist attacks, he asserted, “I won't call it a tribute to any Indian who is a victim of terror attacks. It's a great human tragedy and we can't trivialise it by drawing lines on nationality. 

The movie is actually a part of the global and contemporary story. It's just that it is a Hindi film and the actors are protagonists. But, the characters otherwise can be from any part of the world.”

Rewari, June 25
Functionaries and members of the Rewari Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI) from Rewari, Dharuhera and Bawal participated in an interactive session held with top officials of the district for the resolution of certain problems of the RCCI here recently.

Satya Prakash T.L. deputy commissioner, was the chief guest. While RCCI president Vipin Kaushal welcomed the chief guest and others, D.K. Jain, vice- chairman of the RCCI mentioned problems being faced by industry in the district.

Drawing the deputy commissioner’s attention to their longstanding demand for the establishment of an ESIC Hospital here, he said owing to the non-allocation of a plot for the hospital by the HSIIDC, its construction had been hanging fire for the past eight years. It was causing hardship to thousands of workmen employed in numerous industrial units at Rewari, Bawal and Dharuhera.

Asserting that the provision of health and transport facilities was essential for the welfare of workers, he urged the deputy commissioner to expedite the establishment of the hospital.

Regarding frequent unscheduled power cuts, Jain said it had become a major deterrent for the smooth operation of the industry in the district. He pointed out that the DHBVNL met their requirement only to the extent of 60 per cent while the rest had to be met by them through captive generation plants whose working was highly expensive.

Stating that the neighbouring state of Rajasthan met over 95 per cent of the power requirement of industries and simultaneously had a system in place to pre-inform the user industries about power cuts in advance, he wanted the Haryana government also to have such a system in place.

Regarding the increase in fatal accidents on the Delhi-Jaipur Highway , Jain said that the Banipur Chowk,at the intersection of the Rewari road and the Bawal road, had become an accident- prone zone which needed traffic management.

The deputy commissioner assured to get a plot allotted for the construction of an ESIC Hospital here.The regional manager of the HSIIDC, D.K.Rahgavan, too made a commitment to extend all possible cooperation.

Regarding power cuts , the deputy commissioner said the state government was engaged in expeditious generation of additional 5,000 MW after which the problem would be solved.

Rohtak, June 25
With a view to catering the needs of the growing hospitality sector and imparting corporate training to students, the Maharshi Dayanand University authorities have decided to develop its Institute of Hotel and Tourism Management (IHTM) as a leading institute in the northern region.

Keeping this in mind, the authorities have launched five new courses from the academic session 2009-10, besides making efforts for strategic tie-ups with various leading organisations in the hospitality and tourism sector.

The university has constructed a new building of the IHTM which will become operational from the coming academic session. The authorities claim that all modern and necessary amenities would be provided in the building. These include a restaurant, suite(s), conference hall, IT-enabled classrooms, seminar room, front office, communication lab and a computer laboratory.

Prof Daleep Singh, director of the IHTM, informed that five new courses being introduced from the session 2009-10 were bachelor of tourism management (BTM) and four PG diploma courses in food and beverage production, food and beverage services, front office operations management and housekeeping operations management.

“At present, the students of the IHTM are being given practical exposure in the corporate sector and hospitality industry through industrial/corporate visits as well as through industrial training. Special care is taken to improve communication and interpersonal skills of the students,” the director said, adding that eminent experts from the hospitality industry were also invited to the institute for guest lectures.

The IHTM was established in 2007 after realising the need for professional courses in the hospitality sector. The university started with two courses, master of hotel management (MHM) and master of tourism management (MTM) during the session 2005-06 in the Institute of Management Studies and Research (IMSAR). But the university felt the need for a separate institute and thus, established the IHTM, maintained Prof Daleep Singh.

Vice-chancellor RP Hooda said the IHTM would surely emerge as a centre for excellence in the hospitality and tourism education sector. Sunit Mukherjee, director, public relations of the university, informed that the details of the courses were also available on the university website, www.mdurohtak.com. The last date for the submission of admission forms for these courses is July 10, 2009.

Sirsa/Fatehabad, June 25
Dhencha (sesbania bispinosa), a leguminous plant with nitrogen-fixing properties, has become popular among farmers as an intermediate crop between wheat and rice. Though a weed, it has helped farmers in increasing the fertility of their soil in the recent years.

The uncultivated period of 60 to 70 days between wheat harvesting and paddy transplanting can be effectively used for the cultivation of the fast-growing green manure legumes.

Sesbania is a potential green manure legume for the rice-wheat system. It is raised for eight to nine weeks as pre-rice crop and incorporated into the soil during paddy transplantation in July.

Sesbania green manure increases the yield of succeeding crops, but the increase is more in rice than in wheat.

As much as 1,911 kg of dhencha seeds have been sown in Sirsa while about 1,800 kg of the seeds have been sown in Fatehabad.

“One kg of dhencha seed is sufficient for growing sesbania crop on eight acres of land and hence, over 28,000 acres of land in both districts is under dhencha plants this year,” said an agriculture expert.

The state government has been providing dhencha seeds on a subsidy of 90 per cent. “A 10-kg pack of dhencha seed, which normally costs Rs 200 is being supplied to farmers at Rs 25 only,” the expert said.

“The continuous growing of rice-wheat system adversely affects the soil health and the sustainability of agriculture. Farmers rarely apply organic manures and use only organic fertilisers, which have reduced the organic carbon content of soil, water-holding capacity, soil aggregation etc,” said the expert, adding that the green manure of dhencha plants served as the best manure.

Farmers have been taking keen interest in growing dhencha, which they maintain help in increasing the fertility of the soil to a great extent.

“After the last irrigation of wheat crop, we scatter the seeds of dhencha. When we reap wheat dhencha starts growing. By the time paddy is to be sown, dhencha is waist high. We plough standing plants of dhencha into the fields and it saves us from using urea,” says Jagtar Singh, a farmer. 

Karnal, June 25
Fine arts lovers looking for recognition of their talent and exposure have a reason to cheer. The Haryana Institute of Fine Arts (HIFA), has taken an initiative to provide a platform to local artists to enable them to hone their skills.

The initiative assumes importance as the state government has not established any academy to promote fine arts and hundreds of artists pursuing fine arts like graphics, photography, drawing, painting, sculptors and multimedia are unable to exploit their full potential and get due recognition.

HIFA has endeavoured to revive the rich art and cultural heritage of the state, which is fast losing its identity due to the lack of facilities and desired focus, by deciding to organise a “mega exhibition” to showcase the works of state artists.

The “mini art festival” would have three sections, comprising competitive and non-competitive display of artifacts and works of Haryana artists and an exhibition of woks of nationally and internationally renowned artists.

The competitive segment would include the best entries sent by artists from the state in different sections and five cash awards of Rs 25,000 would be given to the best entries, while two consolation prizes would be given to budding artists, disclosed Piyush Kumar, HIFA secretary.

In the non-competitive section, the best works of artists from Haryana would be put on display. There would be no prizes, but a buyers’ meet would be organised simultaneous to enable the artists get a good price for their works.

The main exhibition would showcase the works of nationally and internationally reputed artists and the young upcoming artists would get an opportunity to see the wider canvas of fine arts and interact with established artists and celebrities in the field.

In the events organised exclusively for Haryanavis, only those artists would be allowed to send entries who are the permanent residents of Haryana.

In the open exhibition also, only Indians and NRIs are eligible to take part and entries for all events would close on August 15.

Gurgaon, June 25
Twenty-three-year-old Anamika Benn won the title of Miss DLF City Queen 2009 beating 13 other finalists at a ceremony held here recently. Kirat Ahluwalia and Surbhi Puranik were declared the first and second runners-up, respectively.

Fashionista - the School of Fashion Technology, groomed the beauties.

The stunning contestants scorched the ramp in Western casuals from groggy, evening gowns, exquisite lehengas and traditional saris designed by Janak. They were looking beautiful but seemed to be lacking confidence at some stages.

The judge’s panel consisted of fashion designer Abdul Halder, fashion photographer Rahul Dutta, Shipra Mallick, former Miss India finalist 2007, Neetu Pavan Manikatalia, MD, Fashionista, and Boby Padam from Jade magazine.

Kirat also won the title of Ms Beautiful Hair, Wangshi grabbed the title of Ms Beautiful Skin, Anamika claimed the title of Ms Beautiful Smile, Barbie was selected as Ms Catwalk and Prashasti was awarded the title of Ms Congenial Personality.

Anamika said she wanted to pursue her career in modelling, but since it was a short-lived profession, she would first like to complete her studies.

She has completed her mass communication recently. Anamika said for the time being she just wanted to concentrate on the Miss India contest. She affirmed that she had also played a role of a model in a film “All the Best” with Sanjay Dutt.

Twenty-two-year-old Kirat is a final year student of communication design. She said she loved to do modelling and films, but would wait for the right offer. Kirat said currently she was concentrating on the Miss India pageant and could not think of anything else.

Surbhi has just stepped into her first year of graduation. She said she wanted to pursue career as a model and this was her first stint in the glamour industry.